But what about if none of those are your favourite sport? Don’t
you deserve a tracker or device to help coach you through the pain barrier too?
Of course you do, and the good news is there’s probably one out there for you
to get hold of.

You get the picture. Any sport involving protective headgear is
one that would benefit from either of these two wearables. The aim of both is
to call attention to the coaching staff on the sidelines when the athlete
sporting one has taken the kind of blow to the head that might have caused
concussion. Play on with that kind of trauma and you risk serious, permanent
damage.

Jolt is a small detachable clip and Checklight a whole cap, but
both are charged by USB before you take the field and report back to apps over
Bluetooth when its time to send a warning. The former isn’t available quite yet
- still a Kickstarter project in motion - but we like the fact it includes a
concussion diagnostic tool in the mobile software.

Golf: Zepp and Game Golf

Golf is one of the sports more replete with interesting wearable
devices to try out. Garmin does an excellent range of Approach wristwatches but
serious swing mechanics and shot trajectory tracking is the preserve of Game
Golf and the Zepp Golf Swing Analyser.

Game Golf is more suited to playing a round. You tag the sensor on
the grip of your club to the unit on your belt for each shot, and the system
will map your entire route around the course comparing your strokes to the
professionals.

Zepp, on the other hand, is probably better suited to the driving
range. Take a swing and let the app figure out why you’re the master slicer
that you are.

Surfing: SharkStopper

Another wearable that’s yet to complete its round of Kickstarter
funding is one that might just put the minds of surfers, body boarders and
ocean swimmers at ease: a company in California claims to have created an audio
device that repels sharks.

It’s a patented acoustic signal that is unpleasant but not harmful
in anyway to the sharks and, from the video, it sounds to us rather like a
dolphin pod. That, quite conceivably, could be enough to make sharks swim
elsewhere. All you need to do is wear it around your ankle or wrist and then
paddle away without the concern of being eaten.

Tennis:
Smash and Sony Smart Tennis Sensor

Neither of these are available quite yet but both Smash and the
Sony Smart Sensor want to tell you how hard you’re hitting a tennis ball, how
much spin you’re putting on it and how consistently you’re doing so.

The Sony version has been shown off at tech shows throughout 2014
and is set to arrive for $200 come January.

Smash is probably the more intriguing of the two, though. It’s a
wristband, rather than a racket attachment, and it should come in a little
cheaper once funded. The mobile app that comes with it also looks a little more
complete, adding in accuracy and an overall Smash score for your session.

Football: Adidas miCoach Smart Ball and f50 Adizero

The first, and more obvious, is the f50 Adizero boots which
contain Speedcell technology. These send data to the miCoach training system,
which lets you know all about where, how hard and how often you’ve been running
throughout your game.

The second, and more fun, device is the Smart Ball which has pressure
sensors pushed up against the inner of its bladder to tell an app all about how
hard, how accurately, and with what spin you’re kicking your free kicks. Want
to bamboozle like Bale? It’s all possible now.

Basketball: 94Ffity

Much as with the Smart Ball, the 94Fifty is a basketball with
sensors inside and Bluetooth connection to a mobile app, which will reveal your
skills after each and every shot. There are workouts with pre-defined drills as
well as custom options to work on the parts of your game that you need most.

The ball itself reports back its arc and shot spin and the
velocity so that you can figure out whether you’re going to heavy on the
shoulder or the wrist. There are also exercises to improve your dribbling with
metrics covering the speed and force with which you’re handling.

Plus, there’s social fun and a bunch of challenges too. Really
nicely delivered and very useful indeed.

Kayaking, Canoeing & Rowing: Vaaka Cadence

Paddle sports are big in New Zealand, so the silver fern-loving Antipodeans
have become something of an expert nation when it comes to wearables for tracking
your kayaking, canoeing or rowing training.

Vaaka has created a sensor that clips onto your oar and reports your
cadence data - i.e. your stroke rate - back to your fitness tracker watch via
Bluetooth. Your Garmin, Suunto or Timex device will then be able to combine
that with GPS data, therefore, measures of distance travelled and speed to come
up with a perfect and consistent fitness and technique program.

Add in heart rate data and you can make sure that you’re paddling
in all the right fitness zones to help sculpt your cardio-vascular intensity.
Technical, but that’s why you’re here.

Skiing & Snowboarding: Oakley Airwave 1.5

Fighter pilots have head HUDs and what’s the difference between
hurtling through the air and down a mountain anyway? That’s why Oakley has
pre-installed the Snow2 tracking and display technology right into its Airwave goggles.

You get real-time readings of your speed, navigation, temperature,
vertical feet and even jump analytics to track the height, airtime and distance
of your tricks. On top of all that, it connects to your mobile for music
playback, social notifications and phone calls too.

Best of all is the Buddy Tracking system to keep tabs on anyone
you know on the slopes with a set of Airwaves or even just the Oakley mobile
app.

Gym training: Athos

Whether you’re looking to body build or just keep yourself trim,
there’s an obvious wearable gap in the market for all those millions of people
who really don’t want to quit the gym. The trouble is that it’s all a bit
experimental at the moment and the words you’ll read on every online store is
‘pre-order’.

Nonetheless, Athos is the name to look out for. It’s a combination
of training clothes woven with micro-EMG sensors that can detect which of your
muscle fibres are working and how hard they’re doing so. The data is sent back
to a Bluetooth core that then sends it all back to an app to be analysed.

It’s based on what used to be exclusively expensive medical
technology and will hopefully arrive some time before 2015.